Local Couple Returns Home

Prince Harry and his actress wife Meghan Markle, now back in our rarefied enclave after a four-day quasi royal tour to Colombia, certainly got the VIP security the Duke of Sussex has so publicly craved.

More than 3,000 police, snipers and even a bio-terrorism van trailed their every move, despite hardly anyone turning out to see them while visiting Bogota, Cartagena, and Cali.

At one venue a Black Hawk helicopter hovered overhead, as well as a drone.

Net Horizon

Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner got dealt a major blow this summer.

His Western film Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One, which cost $100 million to make, made only $32 million during its theatrical run, which came to an end this month.

According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned around $11 million the weekend it debuted in theaters on June 28.

The movie’s gross total was about $29 million when it closed in theaters earlier this month.

Internationally Chapter One made over $3.6 million, bringing the film’s worldwide box office total to $32.6 million.

The Oscar winner spent $38 million of his own money to make the first installment in the planned four-part film series…

Trademark Applications Are Confusing

Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle venture American Riviera Orchard has suffered a setback over “irregularities” in her application for a trademark.

Prince Harry’s actress wife has sought to trademark the name for international use ahead of a full-scale launch next year.

But records show that in July, some four months after trying to register it, there were a number of “irregularities” which needed to be “corrected.”

The U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office has notified the Sussexes lawyer of various issues, including correct classifications, including recipe books, picnic baskets, and yoga blankets.

The agency says fees are also currently due to various businesses around the world to register the trademark – totaling $11,382.

It is believed Netflix, which has just finished filming a cookery series with the Duchess of Sussex, is taking over the commercial applications of the brand, so is likely to pay the fees itself.

Stay tuned…

Looking Back at the Brats

Montecito actor Rob Lowe has looked back on his days as a member of the Brat Pack, a moniker he’s had for nearly 40 years.

A New York Magazine article by David Blum, published in June, 1985, was entitled Hollywood’s Brat Pack after the original Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in the 1960s.

The article named members of the group, including Rob, 60, Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, and Molly Ringwald, on a night out partying in Manhattan.

Nearly four decades later Rob is opening up about the moniker and the article itself, which he says was “horrible.”

“It was a hit piece. It was designed to belittle us, make us look small, with the journalistic claim that it was ‘plausible deniability.’”

Lowe was just 21 at the time, having worked as an actor since 15, making his film debut at 19 in 1983’s The Outsiders. Two years later, just two weeks after the Brat Pack article was published, he soared to fame with St. Elmo’s Fire.

“I came out of it okay,” says Rob. “It was the one night I was home early. What a rarity. So someone was looking out for me.”

He added: “But it probably didn’t help our credibility in the industry.”

Island Approval

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry is being investigated by the Spanish government for allegedly filming the music video for her new single “Lifetimes” on ecologically sensitive sand dunes without permission.

Scenes from the video, which was filmed on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera, are believed to have been posed on the privately-owned uninhabited isle of S’Espalmador, according to the BBC.

The production company behind the video, WeOwnTheCity, says it did secure permission to film at the locale with the environmental department of the Balearic Islands.

The department is now looking at potential changes to the dunes, which are marked off by a rope.

The video production does not count as a crime against the environment because commercial videos and photographs of the dunes can be permitted on request, officials noted.

A Capitol Records spokesman said all permits were in place, other than one, and they were given verbal authority to “go ahead.”

Katy is due to receive the Video Vanguard Award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards next month.

It is the first time since 2017, when she performed at and hosted the show.

A Home Among ‘Friends’

Former Friends star Jennifer Aniston is in the midst of a major renovation of her Montecito mansion which she purchased from Oprah Winfrey for $14.8 million in 2022.

The actress, 55, has demolished the 1998 property’s backyard to make way for a new swimming pool.

The 4,320 square foot house is on a one-acre plot and boasts four bedrooms.

Oprah purchased the two-acre estate in 2021 for $10.5 million and split it into two properties – the main house now owned by Aniston and two smaller cottages sold to longtime friend and personal trainer Bob Greene for $2.3 million.

Emmy winner Aniston also has a $20.97 million estate in Bel Air.

Remembering Phil Donahue

On a personal note, I remember TV talk show host Phil Donahue, who has died aged 88.

I used to appear on his eponymous show on occasion when it was filmed at the NBC studios at 30 Rock in Manhattan, and was later used to tape the Rosie O’Donnell Show.

Donahue’s show was the first to have audience participation and ran for 29 years, starting in Dayton, Ohio, and ending in the Big Apple in 1996.

I will always remember him when I was an anchor on the CBS syndicated show Day & Date and covered Princess Diana’s visit to Northwestern University in Chicago, with Donahue twirling Diana around the dance floor at a gala at the Field Museum of Natural History.

A charming man and major TV pioneer…

Sightings

Oscar winner Kevin Costner and son Cayden, 17, noshing at the Summerland Beach Cafe… TV host Conan O’Brien at the Rosewood Miramar… Actor Rob Lowe picking up an energy drink at Pierre Lafond.

Pip! Pip!